Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich is accusing Chair Mike Lee of breaching “protocol and precedent” over a hearing for President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Interior secretary.
Heinrich said Lee wants to hold a hearing on Burgum next Tuesday, without the committee having received all the relevant paperwork.
“I am extremely disappointed that Chairman Lee has scheduled the first Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing over my objection and before basic information has been given to the Committee. This is a breach of protocol and precedent, established over decades by Chairs of both parties,” Heinrich said.
Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, said nominees usually submit responses to a questionnaire, complete a financial disclosure form, get approval from ethics officials and go through an FBI check.
“Until these steps have been completed, I will not consent to notice of nomination hearings,” Heinrich said. “Every nominee, every party, every administration should be subject to the same standards. I would urge Chairman Lee to reconsider his decision.”
Lee, Republican of Utah, has yet to comment on Heinrich’s statement, obtained overnight.
Burgum, the former North Dakota governor, met with Heinrich on Tuesday and said the meeting went well.
“Just really fun to talk to someone like Sen. Heinrich, who’s done a great job in New Mexico on both the conservation side and on energy development,” Burgum said. “We’re a little jealous that New Mexico has passed North Dakota as the No. 2 energy-producing state.”
If confirmed, Burgum will control the country’s public lands and wildlife conservation. He’ll have broad authority over oil and gas drilling leases.
As a presidential candidate and then Trump surrogate, Burgum was sharply critical of Democratic policies to fight climate change and has called for vastly increasing energy and mineral production.
Trump has also tapped Burgum, who began meeting with Republicans ahead of the holidays, to be his “energy czar,” an unofficial title that will place him at the center of enacting the president-elect’s promises to rapidly scale up energy production and slash environmental regulations.
While his policy positions are likely to clash with Democrats during his confirmation process, he may still win some bipartisan support. Burgum is widely seen as a qualified two-term governor of an oil-rich Western state, and he is largely free of scandals or controversies that have hounded Trump’s other nominees.
Asked if he and Heinrich struck any accords on specific policies, Burgum quipped: “Yeah, mule deer hunting.”
Heinrich is also set to meet with Trump’s Department of Energy pick, Chris Wright, later this week.
Separately, Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) is eyeing a hearing on EPA pick Lee Zeldin next week. Hearings are already set for several Trump defense and foreign policy selections.
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